Bernard Vincent Ridout Downman
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Bernard was the son of the Reverend Frank Percival and Elizabeth Agnes Downman (née Luck) of 3 Dunsford Place Bath. He had two brothers Cuthbert Percival Clement Downman and Theodore Frank Cyril Downman. He was christened at St Michael's Church Derby on 11th March 1896. His effects of £127 8 shillings and 10 pence were left to his father Reverend Frank Percival Downman.
He first entered a theatre of war in France on 27th June 1916. The Battalion occupied Constance Trench which was under heavy enemy bombardment. Downman and six other ranks died on 21st September. He is buried in Bouzincourt Communal Cemetery Extension Somme France Grave Reference: I H 8.
The following is an extract from the Derby Daily Telegraph, 26 September 1916;- "Derby Clergyman's son Killed. We offer sympathy to the Rev. F.P. and Mrs Downman, of Hartington Street, Derby, in the bereavement which had overtaken them by the death of their youngest son, Second-Lieut Bernard Vincent Ridout Downman of the Sherwood Foresters. The War office have notified the family that he was killed in action on September 22 .The gallant officer was educated at Derby School and St. Cuthbert's Worksop, before proceeding to Cambridge with a view to taking holy orders. He was an undergraduate when war broke out and at once joined the University O.T.C (Officer Training Corps). The following February, on attaining his 19th birthday, he was given a commission in the Sherwood Foresters, completing his military training at Lichfield. In January this year he was sent out to join his battalion in Egypt, being transferred to France in June. Another of Mr Downman's sons is a prisoner of war in Germany, having been wounded before he was captured"
